Root Beer

I like root beer, or as Evan calls it, root beard. I think part of why I enjoy it is that I feel root beer is a soda that has not lost its heritage. I have always found the history of soda to be interesting, particularly that sodas began as medicine, and that the first soda fountains were in pharmacies. Root beer heralds from a time before sodas were fruit-flavored sugar delivery systems.

A couple years back, I began a quest to find an absolutely fantastic root beer It would need to have the right combination of flavors and fizz to make it. Starting a while back, I began to keep notes on the different root beers I tried. Here are some of my findings so far.

This soda had a strong, fruity flavor, reminiscent of the national brand Barq’s. The fizz was very strong, to the point that it began to have a numbing effect and was hard to drink. Overall, not a very memorable soda. 2/5

This soda had the quintessential “root beer” taste, but was very strong. The primary notes were anise and wintergreen, and it had a definite caramel aftertaste. This soda was very fizzy, and between the wintergreen and strong fizz, I only got through half of the bottle before the tip of my tongue started to feel numb. 3.5/5

This soda was an enjoyable blend of flavors! It tasted like a root beer float, more than a straightforward root beer, so if you don’t like root beer floats, this is one to avoid. This soda went easy on the carbonation and so had a smooth finish. Overall, an enjoyable experience. 4/5

Question: Have you ever considered making your own? I’m not really in the root beer mood with the cloudy weather we’ve been having, but I pinned a recipe a while back that I want to try when the weather gets hotter. Just a thought!